Didn't cause the calamity, but certainly did terrible things. Even ignoring all the Ura killed, all those gasbags and beasts were both sentient and intelligent. The gasbags were a part of Ceylondian society before the calamity put them at cross purposes with the kid. That's why Rucks feels the need to point out that the Bastion will make everything better for everyone by resetting things. He's trying to justify sending the kid out, while knowing what caused everything, and knowing that the kid's going to have to fight and kill. But all that death, all that murder, just to make an airship?

That's what makes it an interesting decision. Do you reset things? Knowing that there is absolutely no guarantee that history won't loop over and over again, or maybe even come out worse. Or do you set in stone a series of actions that (in hindsight) are downright barbaric, and try to move forward from that?

_________________The older I get, the more certain I become of one thing. True and abiding cynicism is simply a form of cowardice.

So, a Brazilian team just beat a Korean team at League of Legends at IEM Sao Paolo.

That sound you just heard, that was a thousand oddsmaker's heads exploding in unison._________________The older I get, the more certain I become of one thing. True and abiding cynicism is simply a form of cowardice.

Hotline Miami - in which you massacre large numbers of stereotypical 80's organized crime members in white leisure suits, while under the influence of heavy drug use and for no other reason than your answering machine asked you to.

Although I must say, the synth music is catchy._________________Hangman, hangman, hold it a little while, I think I see my brother coming, riding many a mile.

Many words have been written by various video game wonks about what Hotline Miami is trying to say in regards to the player being a terrible person. Last year had a few interesting games addressing the player (see: Spec Ops: The Line)._________________“Yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation”
yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation.

Many words have been written by various video game wonks about what Hotline Miami is trying to say in regards to the player being a terrible person. Last year had a few interesting games addressing the player (see: Spec Ops: The Line).

Not gonna lie, it amazes me that people are reading so much into a game in which mysterious people in animal masks that may or may not be hallucinations leave messages on your answering machine telling you to murder a bunch of dudes. Not to mention dudes that walk around their houses with shotguns and baseball bats in leisure suits. It amazes me even more when the people who are "Astounded by it's violence" are people who post about 5-headshot streaks in Counterstrike on their Twitter and profess that they love Manhunt.

Especially when the game tries pretty hard to point out that the player is fucked in the head and getting progressively more so throughout the game.

In Counterstrike: Global Offensive, I sort of see through the violence into the play structure underneath, and I think a lot of other people do too. It's not exactly about "shooting people in the head", it's about clicking the left mouse button when my cursor is on the opponent's player model. It becomes much more abstract. The primary interaction of a CS: GO match is not "kill the other team". It's not even "destroy/protect the bomb site". It's "win more than half of the possible rounds" (so, win 16 rounds if the halves are 15 rounds each).

I mean fuck, having been an avid Counterstrike player for years I can tell you that it, of all games, lacks any kind of story what-so-ever and is focused solely on search-and-destroy.

Although it might just be that I'm a sucker for top-down games and always have been.

As for Spec Ops, I haven't played it yet, but from what I've heard it borrows heavily from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. I really enjoyed Heart of Darkness, so I might look into getting Spec Ops. Although unfortunately I already know the endings, so some of the story value is gone I guess.

Edit: In retrospect I guess I kind of see Hotline Miami as being American Psycho-esque. I mean, it doesn't glorify violence - it takes it to such a surreal level that it makes you think "wow - this is pretty fucked up".

And I reiterate, the soundtrack is fantastic._________________Hangman, hangman, hold it a little while, I think I see my brother coming, riding many a mile.

I just can't seem to get interested in the PS4. It's like, okay, it will get closer to PC-level graphics, has a ton of social features I don't care about, added a touch thingie to the controller, can beam to the Vita (which is kinda cool, but I don't have one), and gave up on backwards compatibility. Essentially, it's given me no reason to not be happy with the PS3+PC combination._________________“Yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation”
yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation.